The U16 national team is in training camp today and tomorrow in Újpest, Glen Williamson talked to icehockey.hu about the upcoming season for this team.
“I get very excited when I think of the upcoming season for the U16 age group, they are the first ones that started out in the U13 national development program. They are the ones that started out from the foundation of the program and will go through it from start to finish. Next year they will be able to play at the U18 world championships, this year however they will be partaking in a number of international tournaments and have the chance to gain some real experience.” said Glen Williamson the director of the boys youth system.
“We have this bank that supports the youth system and the TAO, because of this we have a number of Hungarian teams that are playing in the U18 and U20 Erste Bank leagues which is a great opportunity for our young players. This year we have to start doing the quality work that will be the foundation that will be needed at the higher levels when they get older. This is why we did a strength test today and this is why we push the guys to the max and for them to do their best. In December we will be traveling to Canada where they will play 2-3 practice games and they will take part in a tournament, we will play seven games in five days. All this will be on the smaller North American ice surface against teams that are playing in the top leagues throughout Canada. There will be scouts from the top junior leagues at the tournament and crowds of about 1,000 spectators. This is an incredible opportunity for these kid’s carriers and also for them to see how they stack up against other kids their age. If we look at their everyday lives they will be able to see another country on the other side of the world. Bob Dever is organizing this for us, we pretty much just have to take care of the travel, which is possible through the TAO, the tournament expenses are also taken care for us. The other participating teams have to pay.”
“Aside from this we have a tournament in November in St.Pölten, with the U15 we will be in Austria right before Christmas, between the two holidays and parallel with Canada we will have a team in Slovakia for a tournament up there. It is important that we play against these hockey countries, plus everyone from the players, coaches, club coaches and everyone involved have been doing a lot of work in trying to develop Hungarian hockey.”
“It will be a hard but exciting season for this age group, we are working for this and also preparing these young men for life, they have a chance to gain valuable experience to help them be successful as hockey players or whatever else they might do in life. It is important that they have opportunities in life for them, this also forces them to practice the English language, in today's world you need to speak English.”